C.K. Chesterton – Chesterton’s Fence

English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist

Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it was put up.

Our culture is currently tearing down fences that we didn’t build, and future generations will bear the consequences

 

As Christian believers, it is SO important to KNOW and UNDERSTAND what it REALLY means to be a CHRISTIAN

 

THIS I BELIEVE

Historic Christian faith in the modern world
Christianity is often:

  • Misunderstood (even by those who claim to be one)
  • Mocked (Because of our views of God and the world)
  • Needed NOW MORE THAN EVER (for it’s power to change the world)

1: How Christian Faith Has Changed the World
The current culture is TRYING doing 2 distinct things to the CHRISTIAN FAITH

 

Culture is trying to…

A: Make Christianity into its own image

  • Accept what it deems acceptable
  • Make it more tolerable
  • Change the meaning of its core beliefs (love is love, etc…)

B: Discredit Christianity

  • Hateful
  • Bigots
  • exclusive
  • beyond its usefulness

 

Ultimately It’s NEVER been good for the world

  • This is just NOT true

 

To argue this point, I want to point out a few things CHRISTIANITY has been responsible for in the modern world…

 

Brian Tierney of Cornell University:

Showed that the idea of universal human rights and the equality of every individual was developed not by the philosophies of the Enlightenment but by Christian canon lawyers in the 12th century, based on Genesis and us being created in God’s image.

Kyle Harper of the University of Oklahoma:

Showed that the idea that every person has a right to his or her own body—and that therefore sex must be completely consensual—was a startling new concept that came into the world through Christianity. Historians tell how the last pagan emperor of Rome, Julian (361-363), sought to revive paganism in the face of surging, growing Christianity. But pagans despised the poor and weak, while Christians poured themselves out for the sick, orphans, the poor, and for abandoned infants. As a result, the masses turned to Christ. Such charity to the needy was unique to Christian faith.

 

Other scholars have shown that the birth of modern science depended on a Christian view of the world as real, not an illusion (as held in the East)—one created by a single mind to work on universal laws.

 

We learn that the idea of hope—of belief in historical progress moving toward greater justice and peace—is a uniquely Christian idea.

 

The very idea of the separation of church and state, unknown in other cultures, was a concept not pushed on the church by the secular world, but was originally developed by Augustine and is grounded in the fact that Christianity is culturally flexible, not dictating in detail how people must, dress, eat, live, and work.

 

Tom Holland:

If secular humanism derives not from reason or from science, but from the distinctive course of Christianity’s evolution – a course that, in the opinion of growing numbers in Europe and America, has left God dead—then how are its values anything more than the shadow of a corpse?

 

No other belief system in the HISTORY OF THE WORLD has:

  • Done more good
  • Saved more lives
  • Improve more cultures
  • That’s Christianity

Now why is that?

BECAUSE ITS TRUE!

 

Christians don’t believe in following a “SYSTEM”

  • We follow a PERSON

True Christianity can be summed up in the verse:

John 14:6

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

2: The Rich History of the Christian Faith

Power of Traditions

  • Help us know where we come from
  • Can define where we are going
  • Help us know what to believe about ourselves, our situation; past, present, future

Not all traditions are good

  • But Not all are bad

 

Wisdom is knowing what to keep and what to leave behind

 

What C.K. Chesterton’s Fence is all about

 

Good traditions point back to past truths that help us understand our present and how to move forward

 

Christianity grew rapidly in the first few hundred years despite EXTREME persecution

 

North African Church Father Tertullian said in approx. 200AD

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

 

As Christian faith grew, There needed to be a VOCAL TRADITION that helped course correct BAD THEOLOGY

  • Common for Christian ideas to get mixed with pagan ideas

So starting around 100 AD (70 years post Jesus death/resurrection

  • A CREED came about called the Apostles Creed

 

Let me explain what a CREED is…

Creed:

A set of fundamental beliefs set in a brief authoritative formula

 

Example:

Pledge of allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.

 

This pledge is a REMINDER of what our country is about

  • It Teaches
  • It Corrects
  • It points forward using the WISDOM of the past

 

Apostles Creed:

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born from the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, descended into hell,

on the third day rose again from the dead,

ascended to heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,

from there He will come to judge the living and the dead;

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic (universal) Church,

the communion of saints, the remission of sins,

the resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life.

Amen.
This is what TRUE HISTORIC Christianity believes

  • Trinity
  • Virgin Birth
  • Resurrected
  • The Church
  • Final Resurrection

 

The creed is NOT:

  • A Replacement for Scripture

 

The Apostle’s creed is a SUMMARY of key Christian theological beliefs

 

Romans 10:8-10

This is the message of faith that we proclaim: 9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
This has been said for over 2 millennia

  • From prison cells
  • Ships
  • On every continent

Christianity has a ROBUST history of which we can pull from for:

  • Encouragement
  • Direction
  • Hope in God’s faithfulness

Cornerstone Creed:

We are CORNERSTONE CHURCH

We exist to CONNECTS all that we can, CARES for all we’re sent, and Cultivates all we have.

 

We are BELIEVING

Believing in God the Father our creator. Saved by His son, Jesus Christ, from all our sins and being guided and counseled by the Holy Spirit until the day Jesus returns.

 

We are SEEKING

Seeking God’s will for this church, our families, and ourselves. Seeking to save the lost in this community and grow in His wisdom and discernment.

 

We are TRUSTING

Trusting in God’s plan for His church, His people, and His world. We trust in both good and difficult times that God will be faithful, and in Him, we will overcome.

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